1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an attachment structure of an object detector such as radar to a vehicle body, the detector which detects an object ahead of a vehicle and its relative distance.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-271743, filed Sep. 20, 2005, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle body, various kinds of impact absorbing structures exist in preparation for a collision or the like. For example, a disposing structure for a device with a high rigidity is known in which an easily-deformable member is disposed adjacent to the device. The structure allows the frame of the vehicle body to be smoothly collapsed at a time of a collision by moving the device out of the collapsing track of the frame by the easily-deformable member being bent during the collision (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-34198).
In addition, an attachment structure of an object detector such as radar to a vehicle body is known in which the object detector is fixed to a bracket of the vehicle body via a nut made of resin. This attachment structure is adapted to reduce the damage of the object detector due to a collision by allowing the detector to move rearward by the resin nut dropping off the bracket (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-357653).
The aforementioned structures prevent a great force from being applied to the devices by moving the devices or allowing the devices to move when the frame or an exterior member of the vehicle body moves rearward during a collision. Therefore, there may be a case in which the misalignment of the axis of the detector due to a minor collision cannot be prevented when applying the structures to an object detector.
That is, since the structures of the related art are only adapted to make the devices move more easily when a collision force is applied, there is a possibility that the axis of the object detector is misaligned by being pushed by an exterior member of the vehicle such as a bumper or a grill when the members move rearward due to a minor collision.
In such a minor collision in which the bumper or the grill slightly deforms, the object detector can usually be used afterward if the axis of the detector is not misaligned. However, if the axis is misaligned, the detector becomes unusable afterward.